Glycerol, a platform chemical for the production of intermediate biorenewable chemicals, can be obtained as a low value byproduct from a variety of industries such as the production of biodiesel. The fermentative conversion of glycerol to intermediate biorenewable chemicals such as 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) is an environmentally sustainable use of the oversupply. However, the principal impediment in fermentative conversion of glycerol to 1,3-PD lies in the downstream purification of the 1,3-PD given that it has to be enriched from low starting concentrations. The separation of 1,3-PD from the fermentation broth can account for more than 50% of the total production cost. The hydrophilicity of 1,3-PD compounds the complexity of purification. Conventional processes like distillation, chromatography, and reactive extraction amongst others have been used, but are associated with high energy usage, low yield, and/or process complication issues. For example, the high hydrophilicity of 1,3-PD has been the major impediment in using a method as simple as solvent extraction.